Radial Theater Project to Use 18th & Union as New Arts Incubator

Radial Theater Project is pleased to announce that this Fall, the company will assume management of the 49-seat performance space currently known as New City Theater at 1406 18th Avenue in Seattle, Washington. Beginning in September 2016, the space will be known as 18th & Union.

For most of the year, Radial Theater Project will operate 18th & Union as a home for solo and other small-scale performance: theater, music, poetry, comedy, improv and more. New City Theater (John Kazanjian and Mary Ewald) will continue to produce, and will be in residence for 10 weeks each spring. The space will also be available for community rentals for rehearsals, readings, and full productions.

18th & Union Producing Director David Gassner said, "Our plan is to establish 18th & Union as an artistic home for Seattle's small-scale theater makers. Seattle is home to many adventurous performing artists who tour their work nationally and internationally. Presenting their work in their own backyard is an ongoing challenge due to high rent, marketing costs and competition for venues. Just as we did with the Locally Grown performance festival last year, 18th & Union will provide an opportunity for these performers to take artistic risks, and for local audiences to see their work."

The theater at 18th & Union is the fourth performance space that John Kazanjian has renovated or created in Seattle over the past 34 years. Just as the first New City Theater on 11th Avenue was passed on to The Hugo House, John Kazanjian and David Gassner are working together to ensure that the 18th & Union Street theater remains on our cultural landscape as an asset for Seattle's performance community.

Radial Theater Project (David Gassner, Producing Director; Blair Feehan, Managing Director), which created and produced the successful Locally Grown performance festival at New City Theater in 2015, will use the space to expand its mission of supporting original and innovative theater works to a more full-time operation.

Gassner remarks, "18th & Union will be a home for artists creating small-scale and low-tech performances, where local audiences can see their favorites and be introduced to new artists in an intimate setting. Additionally, we plan to present the work of outstanding out-of-town performers when they visit Seattle."

Radial Theater Project is currently working on the initial lineup of artists and performances. A more complete description of the company's plans, and details about rental availability, will be available soon.

For up-to-date information, visit the website at 18thandunion.org.

Since its establishment in 2011, Radial Theater Project has been dedicated to creating and presenting original and innovative theatrical works in collaboration with local theater artists. Radial typically commissions a playwright (or group of playwrights) to create a new play with specific actors in mind, and then develops the work with all participants working together as equal partners. In 2015, Radial Theater Project created and presented the Locally Grown Performance Festival at New City Theater.

Founded in Seattle, Washington in 1982, the New City is an artist-run, Alternative Theater producing work under the continuous artistic leadership of director John Kazanjian and performer Mary Ewald. The New City aims to commission and produce language centered plays that engage the socio-political issues of our time and now, in our final artistic movement, expand our repertoire to include bi-annual productions of Shakespeare's canon.

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